The image of A. Lincoln in the collective memory of the US society during World War II

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the elements of the formation and adaptation of the historical memory of American society at a critical moment in their state’s history. The study is focused on the perception and transformation of the image of A. Lincoln in the public consciousness on the eve and in the midst of the largest world conflict. In particular, it is demonstrated how the A. Lincoln’s name was used in various spheres of American culture and politics to find a moral point of support and a value justification for the need to fight. The methodological basis of the article was the principle of historicism, systematic approach, problem-chronological method and descriptive method. The study’s theoretical basis is the concept of «cultural memory» of society, which is one of the elements of the broader phenomenon of «collective memory». The application of this theoretical toolkit provided an opportunity to cover the development of American society’s spiritual sphere and determine its value orientations in historical dynamics. Considering that virtually every society in the world, in one way or another, uses the names of historical figures to form its collective memory, this angle of consideration of the issue makes it relevant for the modern Ukrainian state as well. Conclusions. The study shows that the socio-political, economic, and cultural contexts that have been established in the country in certain historical periods, directly affect the formation of society’s cultural memory. In democracies with deep-rooted market economies, such as the United States, the collective perception of the past is decentralized, and the state plays a minimal role in the process. The thesis about the dependence of the formed images of separate historical figures on the socio-cultural, political, and economic context is also substantiated. This statement is proved by the example of Americans’ perception of the memory of the sixteenth President of the United States A. Lincoln in different historical periods of its development.